Bjarke Ingels Group Is Building a Realistic Model of Mars in the UAE

Mars's Echus Chasma, as photographed by the European Space Agency. A project in the UAE aims to replicate the planet's surface and conditions.Photo: ESA, via Getty

Though NASA first sent a rover to explore its surface 20 years ago, much of life on Mars remains a mystery to us. But if scientists from the United Arab Emirates and a team of designers at Bjarke Ingels Group get their way, we’ll soon come very close.

Dubbed Mars Science City, the project is a $140 million research city that will serve as a “viable and realistic model” of what it might be like to live on the Red Planet for both scientists and the public. With a footprint of 1.9 million square feet, the series of interconnected domes will be the largest space simulation of its kind on Earth.

At its core, the city is meant to provide scientists and engineers from the Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre with everything they need to simulate and study the major food, energy, and water challenges related to hypothetical Martian living. Labs will be made to mimic the temperatures and radiation levels one might encounter on Mars, and sculpted landscapes will let teams play with the planet’s agricultural possibilities.

The public-facing elements are no less impressive. Mars Science City will include a museum that celebrates humanity’s space achievements and chronicles the findings of the city’s researchers as they’re uncovered. Its walls will be built from 3D-printed Emirati desert sand, showcasing a construction method that could be as useful on Mars as it is impressive here on earth.

The ultimate plan is to see if a team can survive in the city for a full year, potentially providing unparalleled insight into what it would take for a manned Mars mission to succeed. The fact that it’s another feather in the cap of a country already known for its grandiose structures and unorthodox architecture is surely a nice bonus, though.

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